We are now just two weeks before the commemoration of the passion, death and resurrection of Jesus. This Sunday, we look back at one of the most controversial acts of Jesus: the raising of his friend Lazarus, the brother of Martha and Mary.

In traditional Jewish mentality, bringing back to life a person who was already four days dead and decaying was not only impossible but also unthinkable. Traditional Jewish belief had it that the soul of a dead person somehow remains with the body for three days. After three days, they believed that the soul finally departs from the body and corruption sets in.

When Martha objected to the opening of the tomb and said, “Lord, there is already a stench because he has been dead four days” (John 11:39), she was simply expressing the common view of that time regarding the finality of death. This was also the reason why of all the miracles Jesus did, the raising of Lazarus ranked as the most astonishing to the people of His time: “Many of the Jews therefore, who had come with Mary and had seen what Jesus did, believed in him.” (Jn 11:45)

His enemies, however, looked at it differently. The reaction of the Pharisees who later on condemned Jesus to death was clear: this was the last straw. They became enraged and, as they do not want to believe in Jesus, said: "What are we to do? This man is performing many signs. If we let him go on like this, everyone will believe in him, and the Romans will come and destroy both our holy place and our nation." … From that day on they took counsel how to put him to death." (Jn. 11:47-48, 53)

For the early Christians, the story of the raising of Lazarus pointed to something more than his physical resuscitation. They believed that it was but a preview of the resurrection that Jesus encountered for all of humanity and a challenge to learn to see death not as the end of life but as the passageway towards that real Life which God has prepared for all those who were faithful to Him.

Many of us today, while physically alive have fallen victim to the spiritual death caused by our many sins. Many of us are in the tomb of hopelessness and decay, in the bondage of wrong habits and attitudes. Nothing short of a miracle can bring us back to life in Christ. And it is worth reminding ourselves that in this season of Lent, Jesus is ready for the miracle of bringing us back to life and to God. He himself said, “I came that they may have life, and have it abundantly.” (John 10:10) May we be like Lazarus and cooperate with God in the miracle of bringing, renewing and reviving us as individuals, as a church, and a nation.